What it does
Hydration cures the holder's status condition — burn, poison, paralysis, sleep, freeze — at the end of each turn while rain is active.
The trigger is 'end of every turn in rain,' not once per battle, not once per entry. Every turn the rain is up, every status gets wiped. That's a continuous effect, not a one-shot item.
On its own that's nice — but the real competitive application is Rest. Rest heals the user to full HP at the cost of putting them to sleep for two turns. In normal play that's a two-turn penalty. In rain with Hydration:
- You click Rest: fall asleep within the turn, HP fully restored
- End of that same turn: Hydration fires and clears the sleep
- Next turn: full HP, fully awake, no sleep penalty at all
So Rest-plus-Hydration in rain is: full heal, zero turns of sleep. A cost-free full restore.
The hard requirement: rain must stay active. If the opponent changes the weather after your Rest, Hydration doesn't fire next turn and you sleep out normally. Keep that risk in mind.
Who runs it
Goodra (12%) is the main competitive user. It's a bulky Dragon with exceptional special bulk and already slots naturally into rain teams. Pair it with a rain setter, give it Rest, and it becomes a self-sustaining tank that keeps coming back.
Vaporeon (1%) can run it in theory but rarely does in practice — other sets or abilities usually win out for it.
How to use it
The core setup: get Goodra on a rain team with a reliable rain setter, and slot Rest on it.
In practice: when Goodra gets low, click Rest in rain — sleep and full heal in the same turn, Hydration clears the sleep at end of that turn, next turn it's back at full HP and ready to keep clicking. This loop continues as long as rain holds.
Rest only has 10 PP, but in a single competitive match that's plenty. Usually two or three uses is enough to outlast the opposition.
The danger: if the opponent switches the weather after your Rest — bringing sun or sandstorm — Hydration doesn't fire that end of turn. You wake up on the normal schedule. Against teams with weather control, time your Rest carefully and make sure rain will hold the turn.
Tips & strategy
The biggest thing Hydration + Rest takes away from the opponent is status as a win condition. Burn chip, toxic buildup — these simply don't stick on a Pokémon with Hydration in rain. Goodra's natural special bulk is already high; add status immunity and a free full heal every time it dips low, and it becomes extremely hard to wear down from the special side.
Keeping rain active is the real constraint. If your rain setter goes down, the loop breaks. Building around multiple ways to maintain rain — or a rain-duration item — makes the whole thing more consistent.
Also worth noting: Hydration clears externally-applied sleep too, not just your own Rest. An opponent's Spore or Sleep Powder in rain still cures at end of turn. That's a passive benefit on top of the Rest combo, and it means sleep-heavy strategies effectively don't work against a Hydration holder in rain.